Tars rally for big win

Girls' Water Polo

"...That's our game plan, get the ball to set and hopefully work for a shot or an ejection. [Coach Bill Barnett] basically just told us that it's the fourth quarter and we're down one. We needed to come back and get the job done, and that's what we did."

Harrington had several big saves in the fourth quarter, finishing with 14 for the game. For much of the contest McLaren, a UCLA-bound senior, effectively guarded her future teammate with the Bruins, Los Al senior Rachel Fattal, who did score twice.

McLaren scored on a hard outside shot from about eight meters, and she also led the Sailors with three steals.

"She was instrumental, I thought, in communicating with the girls defensively on when to drop, when to 'slough,' when to help," Newport assistant coach Brian Melstrom said. "I think she was definitely a defensive leader in the game."

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McLaren said it was tough at times guarding her good friend and SOCAL club teammate Fattal, but "you just have to leave it in the water."

The Sailors certainly gave maximum effort early. Junior Carly Christian drew two exclusions in the first quarter, also scoring twice. Senior Sophie Leveque had two assists in the quarter, and the Sailors built their lead to 5-2 midway through the second on Schilling's lob goal. But Los Al closed within 6-5 by halftime after a strong move at set by junior Stephanie Mutafyan.

Griffins senior Marley Delaney converted a lob from the outside midway through the third quarter to tie the score, then sophomore Erika Pauley scored from the left with 1:10 remaining in the quarter to give Los Alamitos its first lead of the night.

Fattal and Mutafyan each had four steals for the Griffins, who ran an effective press defense. But Schilling kept battling the entire game, Melstrom said, in keeping up her strong recent play.

"Elissia is stepping up in the clutch, for sure," he said. "She works really hard for four quarters. She struggles at times, but as of late she seems to come out with the big winner in the end, when we need it the most."

This time, unlike in Saturday night's TOC title match loss to Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor shined down the stretch in its first meeting of the season with its league rivals.

"We watched film and stuff, but it was kind of hard to evaluate how the game was going to go," McLaren said. "I think we just went out hard and that helped us a lot."

Harrington also helped the Sailors a lot. She made four of her saves in the closing minutes — including the aforementioned shoulder shot with three minutes left by Los Al sophomore Ella Weber. Harrington also made a big stuff on Mutafyan's shot from five meters with less than two minutes left. The play protected what was still a one-goal lead at the time.

"She's the nicest person, she has such a warm heart and she never gives up," Schilling said of her goalkeeper. "She's going to go out there and fight until the end, and that's what she did tonight."

Someone asked Harrington how tall she is. She responded that she's 5-foot-8.